Picker-stick motion for looms



June 8,1926. 1,587,632

H. A. DAVIS PICKER STICK MOTION FOR LOOMs Filed Feb. 9, 1925 @atente-el .lime iii,

UNITED STATES 1,587,633 PATENT GFFICEEZ.

HARRY A. nAvIs,y or HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, AssIGNo'n To DRAPER CORPORA-b TION, or nornnALn, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION or MAINE.

PICKnRsrICK ivroron non Loolvrs.

Application filed February 9, 1925. Serial No. 7,773.

This invention relates to a familiar type I of picker stick motion for looms and the object of the invention is to providea new, improved and simplified construction by means of which the force or tension of the spring, which serves to restore the picker stick to its normal position, may readily be adjusted as required.

The object of the invention is further to provide a simple and effective means for this purpose which may readily be attached to existing looms without alteration of the rocker stand.

These and other objects of the invention will appear more fully from the accompanying description and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawi-ngs:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the lower corner of a suliicient portion of a loom to illustrate the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a portion of the rocker stand, together with a preferred form of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a view in vertical cross section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view in horizontal cross section taken on the line l-Jl of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing` another form of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a third form of the invention.

Fig.' 7 is a view in side elevation, partially broken away, showing the construction illustrated in Fig. 6. l

f Fig. 8 is a view in side elevation looking toward the left and partially broken away, showing the construction illustrated in Fig. 5.

Fig. 9 is a detail in rear elevation of the support and engaging and disengaging means shown in Fig. 6.

As the general type of picker stick motion to which this invention relates is well. known and familiar to those skilled in the art, it is only necessary to illustrate and describe that portion of the mechanism particularly concerned with the present invention.

A rocker stand 1 presenting a flat upper surface 2 and rigidly secured to the lay rocker shaft 3 is mounted for oscillating movement in the loom, one of the side frames l of which is illustrated. The usual picker stick 5 projects down. through a slot in the rocker stand and has secured thereto a rocker 'spring and the drum.

shoe 6, the lower surface of which is formed on a convex curve of such a character that as the shoe rocks on the surface 2 of the rocker stand, the effective end of the picker stick will move in substantial parallelism with the lay of the loom. The picker stick is given its picking movement through a connection 7 and is returned to its normal or outermost position through the agency of a spring 8, usually of the helical type. This spring acts to rotate a drum 9 to which is connected one end of a strap 10, the other end of which is secured at 11 to the picker stick.

The tension of this' spring not `'infrequently becomes relaxed, or lost motion or mal-adjustment occurs in the mechanism which renders it necessary to adjust the tension of the spring. While various provisions have been made for such adjustment, they have been of such a nature as to make it awkward or diiicult for the operative readily and quickly to effect an accurate and positive adjustment. The present invention provides a simple and effective means for taking care of this adjustment which may be readily fitted to the rocker stand of existing looms without alteration thereof.

The rocker stand is provided near its cen' ter at the front with a depending bracket arm 12, usually cast as a part of the rocker stand. rJ'Chis arm serves to support the In the preferred form of this construction a spindle 13 projects rearwardly from this bracket arm beneath the rocker stand and is mounted for rotary adjust-ment in the bracket arm. Upon this spindle is mounted a member in the form of a sleeve 14. This sleeve is keyed to the spindle. For this purpose the spindleis shown at its rear portion at 15 as of polygonal shape, and the' sleeve at the rear portion is shown as solid and fitting the spindle. While the spindle and sleeve are thus conveniently formed as separate elements, since they are keyed together it is not neces-sary, in the broader aspects of the invention, that they should thus be separate elements.

The drum 9, already referred to, is rotatably mounted on the sleeve an-d thus on the spindle and is shown as having, for that purpose, a hub 16 tting over the solid portion of the sleeve. The helical spring 8, already re'lerred to, has one end 17 hooked into a slot in the sleeve at the front, and the other end 18 passed up through a slot 19 in the periphery, of Ythedrunrl The spring thus surrounds the iront portion or the sleeve and the hub of the drum, and is connected at the one end to the sleeve and at the other end to the drum, and is arranged to turn the drum counter-clockwiserl`he strap 1() eX- tends from the picker stick down and up around the periphery ofthe drum and is conveniently hooked over the end 18 or the spring. Thus the normal action ol the spring in its rotation ot the drum is to swing the upper end 'of the picker stick out wardly. The construction is described with respect to the left-hand side of theloo-m, but will, of course, be similar, but reversed, at the right-hand side ofthe loom.

Asupport'or-supporting member is itted to and-'positioned by the bracket arm. 1n the construction shown in Figs. 1-4, inclusive, this 'support consists of a-metal plate 2O litting against the front tace or the bracket a1n112, held againstA lateral movementfby ears21embracing the sides yof the bracketfarm, and against vertical movement by its being -itted'overthe frontend of the spindle 13;y This support, in-this form oi' the invention, is provided with a laterally extending-arm 22, having a rearwardly projecting stud123. On; the stud 23 is pivoted al dog 24. This-dog is, arranged to swing intofand outot engagementlwith the sleeve. T he engagement and disengagementv of the dog andsleeve is`Y conveniently secured by providingvthe sleeve at A'its front end with a ciroularhead 25, the periphery of which is formed with a series of teeth 26 so thatthe dog can swing in and out from between the teeth. The` dog is provided with a weighted `arm 27 on the opposite sideof its pivot which acts to hold it in its engaging position., The dog alsofis providedpwith the4 upstanding lhandle 28 and the wing projection 29 overlapping at the rear the hea-d 25. The handle 28 by engagingthe adjacent ear21-'prevents the dog 241mm swingingto a position where the weight 27 will not act to return it into engagement with the head 2,5. The wing 29 prevents the sleeve 14 from moving rearwardly in casethe spindle is or becomes loosened but it is lso shapedas to allow the sleeve to be removed Whenthe dog lis swung to disenlgaging position,

It willthus be seen that the -dog` 24 can notv move to unlocking or disengaging position of itself. Itmust be moved by the operative either by pressing upon the handle 28 or weight 27 or by loosening the spindle andv Winding itupto tighten, or increase thevtensionfof, the spring 8. In either case the dog automatically returns to locking or engaging position.

The do T 24 always locks the sleeve 14 against reverse rotation even if the spindle is accidentally loosened, because such reverse rotation seats the dog in the bottom of the space between the teeth 26 of the head 25 with a toggle-like action.

The spindle-13 is provided at the rear end with a head 30 having a polygonal projection 31, and at the front end is threaded to receive a nut 32. The head 30 abuts against the rear end ot the sleeve 14, leaving the drum 9 free to rotate, and when lthe nut 32 is set up, thevspindle, .sleeveand bracket arm are all locked rigidly together.

lt will thus be seen that no alteration is required in the rocker stand and the depending bracket thereof. A sleeve and soindle is providediof 'suitable construction and placed in position in the usual manner. The support such as 20 is fitted in place and positioned by the Abracketarm and spindle'. rl`hus all the parts are readily positioned on the loom without any alteration ot the existing loom structure.

1n order to eli'lectan adjustment of the tension or the spring 8, if the tension is to be increased, allfthat is necessary i'or the operative to do is to loosen up the nut 32, place a wrench on the `head 31 and turn the spindle until the desired rotary adjustment is made. It the tension is to be decreased, the operative, after loosening the nut 32, will swing the-dog 24 out of engagement with the head 25 before turning the spindle. Either adjustment isreadily made by an operative without assistance and the exact degree of adjustment required is easily secured.

Another tor-m in which the invention may be embodied is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 8. In this case, the support or supporting member 33 is similar to that already described and is fitted to and positioned upon the bracket arm 12 `in the samevv way. The only difference is that the laterallyextending arm 34 is simply provided with a threaded aperture in which is threaded a screw pin 35, which whenscrewed and unscrewed is moved into and out of engagement with the toothed head ofthe sleeve.

A third form in which the inventionmay be embodied is shown in Figs. (i, 7 and 9. In this construction the support, or supporting member, comprises the plate 36 itting against the r'rontface of the bracket arm 12 and having the ears 17 embracing the sides ot' the bracket arm. But in this case, these ears are connected by the bar38 at'the rear face of the bracket arm 12 and this bar is provided with an integral downwardly projecting lug 39 adapted to fit between the teeth of the toothed head of the sleeve. This suppporting member is moved vertically onthe bracket arm to bring the lug 39 into and out of engagement with the ETF.

IMS

toothed head of the sleeve. In order to lock the support in position and maintain the lug 39 in engagement with the toothed head of the sleeve, a latch 4L() is pivoted at 4l on the support and hooks over the end of the spindle. The support 3G is slotted at 4t2 to allow it to slide vertically on the spindle. A nut 43 may be provided at the extreme 'liront end of the spindle to lock the latch 40 in closed position. In this construction, the supporting member 36 and the latch 4l() may both be conveniently made of stamped sheet metal.

"ll he constructions illustrated serve to indicate the scope of the invention which in each case is adapted to existing looms without any alteration oi: the rocker stand or its depending bracket arm and provides a simple and effective means for quickly and easily adjusting the tension ot' the spring.

I-iaving thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

il. A picker stick motion for looms comprising a rocker stand presenting a depending bracket arm, a spindle rotarily adjustable in the bracket arm, a sleeve mounted upon and keyed to the spindle, a drum rotatably mounted on the sleeve, a spring interposed between the drum and sleeve and connected to both, means for locking the spindle, sleeve and arm together, a support fitted to vithout alteration of the bracket arm, and means carried by the support and movable into engagement with and disei'igagement from the sleeve thus to hold the spindle and sleeve in any desired rot-ary position and to permit rotary adjustment thereof.

2. A picker stick motion for looms comprising the construction delined in claim l, in which the support is held in fixed position on the bracket arm and spindle and the engagii'ig and disengaging means is bodily moved with respect to the support to elitect its functions.

f. A picker stick motion for looms com` prising the construction defined in claim l, in which the sleeve is provided with peripheral teeth adjacent the bracket arm, in which the support is held in fixed posit-ion on the bracket arm and spindle, and in which the engaging and dis/engaging means comprises a dog pivoted to the support to swing in and out from between the teeth ot the sleeve.

Il. A picker stick motion for looms co1n-` prising a rocker stand presenting a dependng bracket arm, a sleeve carried by and roand positioned by the bracket armr tarily adjustable with respect to the bracket arm, a drum rotatably mounted on the sleeve, aspring interposed between the drum and sleeve and connected to both, means for locking the sleeve in fixed position with respect to the bracket arm, a support fitted to and positioned by the bracket arm without alteration of the bracket arm, and means carried by this support and movable into engagement with and disengagement from the sleeve thus to hold the sleeve in any desired rotary position and to permit rotary adjustment thereof.

5. A picker stick motion 'for looms comprising the construction delined in claim ll, in which the sleeve is provided adjacent the bracket arm with a peripherally toothed circular head, in which the support is held in fixed position on the bracket arm, and in which the engaging and disenga-ging means comprises a dog pivoted to the support to swing in and out from between the teeth oi the sleeve head.

6. A picker stick motion for looms com- )rising a rocker stand presenting a depending bracket arm, a sleeve carried by and rotarily adjustable with respect to the bracket arm, a peripherally toothed circular head adjacent the bracket arm on the sleeve, a spring interposed between the drum and sleeve and connected to both, means for locking the sleeve in iixed position with respect to the bracket arm, a support fitted to and mounted in lined position on the bracket arm without alteration of the bracket arm, a dog horizontally pivoted on the support and acting normally to swing in between the teeth or the sleeve head and lock the sleeve against rotation induced by the spring.

7. A picker stick motion for looms comprising the construction defined in claim 6, together with a wing connected with the dog and overlapping the rear of the circular head to maintain the dog and circular head in alignment in ease of accidental loosening of the sleeve.

8. A picker stick motion for looms comprising the construction defined in claim 6, in which the dog is weighted to cause its normal movement and in which a projection is provided on the dog to contact with the support and prevent the dog from moving to a position out of control of the weight.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

HARRY A. DAVIS.

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